TerryPlatt.com

You may not realize how much time I spend looking for ways to expand our business.  Usually, if I am not too busy in the field, I will be talking with people all over the country - discussing various theories and ideas.  If I am at home, I try to call and talk with at least ten people a day but I often get into discussions that turn in to plans of action and so on from there and I’ll spend most of my available time with just one or two calls.

For a while, I was looking at real estate auctioneers and auction companies as a potential source of income.  I thought there should be a need for independent contractors to represent buyers at auctions or at the very least do some related field work.  After a week or so of looking at this opportunity from different angles, I had to go out and actually try out my idea.  And, of course, I usually pass on to you what I find.  Just to see if it might help you a bit.

I must have called close to a hundred auctioneers.  I stuck mostly with the ones that auction real estate and big ticket items like industrial equipment and fleets of vehicles.  After making all those calls and spending hours talking and taking notes, it was beginning to look like I had found another way to not make money.  I stole that phrase from Mr. Edison.  Then, one auctioneer told me I might be looking from the wrong angle.  The suggestion was made that I talk with local auction attendees - not the auctioneers.
Finding details on local auctions was easy enough.  I looked in the legal announcement section of the newspaper and called a few phone numbers.  Most of the numbers were attorneys representing various lenders that were selling properties through the courts.  They gave me the schedule for court house auctions they were aware of.
The first two auctions I attended were over pretty quickly.  No one at the auction bought anything.   I heard remarks about the price and or condition of properties and the bidders let the properties stay with the lender.   I stayed off to the side and kept quite.  It was pretty obvious that I was there to observe - not to participate.
The pace of my auction education accelerated with the third auction I attended.  I saw several new faces and I learned quite a bit from the questions of the new people and the answers given by the guy doing the auction.  My attendance was actually acknowledged by some of the bidders this time.  They introduced themselves and started asking questions.  I guess they had seen me often enough to figure I might be a new bidder or something like that.  I found that some of them were private investors, some were small time operators and to my surprise, one of them was a home builder that refurbishes and resales houses on the side but he was really mostly looking for houses that could be stripped of usuable materials and then demolished.

I eventually had the opportunity to talk with just about everybody at the auction that day.  It was obvious that I was not there to bid, but to learn about the process and see if there was anyway to make a few dollars.  Without telling anyone what I did for a living, I walked away with one commitment from an investor that was willing to pay a nice fee to have someone visit properties specified by that investor and take photos that were to be immediately e-mailed.  He said that often he did not have the time to look at properties he was interested in.  He would do all of his research and knew all he needed to know about the legal stuff but he was just unable to get out to look at the property.

So, after a couple of more auctions I have added additional attorneys, auctioneers, executors, and court-appointed representatives to my circle of acquaintances and I am now on several new e-mail lists that keep me informed about all this stuff. I’m even getting a few calls to go snap a few pictures.

This would probably work for you too.  If you have the time, give it a try.  The only caution I can pass along is that you are contractually obligated to not discuss properties you may be inspecting.  Remember the “third party disclosure” rule.  The people I met at these auctions have become additional clients that call and give the address of a property to take pictures of.  They don’t have a large volume of work, but they are local, they pay very well and they usually pay per job.